I do not want to derail the OP's thread about the ASA products, etc. but felt the need to clarify since my name and one of my projects are mentioned.
Now I know you're full of shit, because anyone that has worked in manufacturing for any length of time would know the design cycle time for products that are orders of magnitude more complex than a rifle chassis can be done in a matter of months. 10 years to design a chassis? I'd say this was being done as a hobby and not a business.
I will try to bring some context into this as far as Terry Cross and the Zealot chassis.
Not a hobby. KMW is my sole employment and income. This is the 34th year for my shop.
Most of my Zealot design and CAD is almost 10 years old. Only a couple of tweaks once it was decided to be put in motion.
10 years ago I was overwhelmed with work at KMW already, felt like I didn't have the capital to start it (just the mold for the cheek rest was over $12K and I also believed there was going to be an explosion of chassis on the market.
Not much changed since then.
There was indeed an explosion of chassis on the market and it continues today.
I am still stacked with work and I still didn't think I had the capital to make the push for the chassis but since I am blowing through my 60th year on the planet I decided to get some of shit off of my hard drive and into reality just so I could see if any of it would fly before I am in the ground. The Zealot chassis in just one of those projects.
Complexity: For me it was complex. Maybe not for others but for me it was. 100% of the design is mine.
I am not afraid to say I am not real bright. Somebody else could have possibly done all this in 6 months.
I was dealing with a totally new LOP and ACP latch/lock system, a new split hemisphere handguard design, several custom torsion springs, a custom mold and injection molded cheek rest that I did the CAD/Design for, 1 custom extrusion and a piss load of other issues I was trying to solve that I did not like in existing chassis on the market. So it did take me 18-24 months to get everything in motion because I was already trying to handle 60-65hrs of work a week with just daily KMW work.
Possibly Theis misunderstood some of what I was quickly going over with him and his Hoplite crew just prior to the Expo. Then again with me talking, there is a high probability that my pie hole was not throwing clear sentences...
So it has existed on paper, in CAD and as 3D printed parts since 2011 but I only put it in motion in Jan 2020.
And if it's being done as a legitimate business, something as simple as a rifle chassis should not take 2 years. I can see it taking longer if its a one man, self financed operation. But from what I've heard, there's investors. And investors get impatient. Most investors will pull the plug or come armed with lawyers after 3 years if there's no revenue return.
Yes, one man operation with some part time help.
Yes, self financed.
I don't want anything to do with investors.
The risk is all mine just like everything else in the shop has always been.
Now everyone can continue the discussion purely about ASA stuff without further distractions.
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